256 MEMOIRS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Last sfaf/e. — In a blown fiill-f;rowii larva received from Professor Riley tlie body is cylindrical, 

 smooth, and tlie liead is small and rounded, with no traces of warts on the head, which is sliyhtly 

 bilobcd. Tiie prothoracic and first and eighth abdominal segments are normal, with no i)iliferous 

 tubercles, not even on the segments si)ecially named. The anal legs arc long and slender, but no 

 longer than the body is thick. 



The body is green, of the hue of the leaf it feeds on; along the back is a broad whitish yellow- 

 band, edged with reddish. There aie no subdorsal or lateral lines or other marks. 



RECAPITULATION. 



1. In Stages I and II we have the high prothoracic tubercles like those of M. marthesia in its 

 fourth stage. 



2. There are no subdorsal or lateral lines in the last stage, and, as in nuirlhcsia, the movements 

 of the anal legs must serve to deter its enemies from attacking it, being otherwise protected by 

 its color, which is like the leaf on which it feeds. 



It is evident that by their larval characters this species and m<i>thesiaa.Te closely allied. 



Cocoon. — "A loosely woven silken cocoon under or among the leaves and other rubbish upon 

 the ground." (Popeuoe.) The pupa is fully described by Dyar in Psyche, vi, p. 90, 



Habits. — Thanks to Professor Popeuoe, ' we have the fullest account yet published of the habits 

 iind transformations of this species. It is at times destructive to the sycamore. The eggs are '"laid 

 in close groups of from fifteen to seventy-five upon the underside of the leaf of the sycamore." It 

 appears that the "newly hatched larvae for a time feed in company upon the leaf pulp," and in 

 the first stage when disturbed fiill or spring oft" and hang suspended by a silken thread. It is to 

 be noticed that the larva " forms a loosely woven silken cocoon under or among the leaves and other 

 rubbish upon the gTound." 



As the larviv grow they no longer feed ou the pulp of the leaf, but devour the woody parts 

 and veins, when their work becomes more noticeable. When nearly fully fed the majority of the 

 larvre .are yellowish green, marked with red as at e, but in the same brood, says Popeuoe, "there 

 will occur other larviv (d) lighter in coloration, but transforming into moths indistinguishable from 

 those produced by the darker form," and "the differences in coloration in the adult larv;e have no 

 relation to the correspondingly great variation in the moths, so far as was observed." "In eastern 

 Kansas," says Popenoe, "the larviB occur in two broods each year, the first brood appearing in early 

 June, the second in the first week in August. The larv;B of the first brood reach their full size in 

 the early part of July; and within the shelter of the cocoons which they spin when full grown, the 

 transformation to the pupal state is ettected. The summer moths soon appear, and after the pairing 

 the females lay the eggs which produce the second brood of iarv.T. The larvie of this brood 

 mature toward the end of August, and, having spun cocoons about themselves, pass the winter 

 unchanged, the pupal state in this brood not being reached until the following spring, a short time 

 before the appearance of the spring moths." 



From Professor Popenoe's table showing the series of changes, it appears that at Manhattan, 

 Ivans., for the first brood, the eggs being deposited June 11, the length of the egg state is four 

 days; of larval Stage I, four days; II, three days; III, two days; IV, four days; it remained six 

 •days in the last stage (V), and was inclosed in its cocoon ten days before the pupa was seen. 



In the second brood, the eggs being dei)Osited July 27, the duration of the egg state was about 

 four days; Stage I, three days; Stage II, three days; Stage III, three days; Stage IV, five days; 

 Stage V, four days. 



The larvic occur in March, July, August, and September, the moths flying in May, -luue, and 

 August (Riley MS.). 



Food plants. — Sycamore (Riley, Pilate, Popenoe). 



Geographical distribution. — Its range extends over the Appalachian and eastern borders of 

 the Campestriau subprovinces, and with little doubt will be found to occur throughout the 

 Austroriparian. 



■ First Annual Report of the Kansas Experiment Station for 1888, Rep. Dept. Ilort. and Ent., p. 35. The illus- 

 trations were drawn by Mr. C. L. Marlatt. 



